One branch of the Courtenays became a royal house of the Capetian dynasty, cousins of the Bourbons and the Valois, and achieved the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople.

Joscelin de Courtenay arrived in Outremer with the third wave of the First Crusade and proved himself capable, becoming in turn Lord of Turbessel, Prince of Galilee,[2] and (in 1118) Count of Edessa, succeeding his cousin King Baldwin II of Jerusalem.

His son, Joscelin III, was the titular Count, while his sister, Agnes, became Queen of Jerusalem by marriage to King Amalric.

The senior line seated at Tiverton, Okehampton and Plympton, died out in 1471 during the Wars of the Roses, but the Earldom was recreated three more times in 1485, 1511 and 1553 for cousins, all descended from the eldest son of the 2nd/10th Earl.

Notable members of the Bauffremonts became Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial Count by Napoleon Bonaparte and Duke by Louis XVIII.

The House of Bourbon, which acquired the French throne with the accession of Henry IV of France in 1589, was another cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty.

The marquis de Bauffremont was made on 8 June 1757 Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (inheritable by all male-line descendants); this title was recognised in France.